Inspiring Community Action Dialogues

Inspiring Action.has moved the Inspiring Education Dialogue closer to a new school act for Alberta  (read the one page preamble) and a plan for education for the next 20 years.  Many Albertans wants the dialogue to continue but how and who will participate is evolving.  In relationship to other public engagement exercises, a large number of Albertan's have been involved.  In relationship to the dream we have and the action needed, a relatively few people has been involved, especially at the local community level.  Will more people be involved in the dialogue or will everyone go back to business as usual and let a few people and/or representatives from various stakeholders participate for them at the provincial level?

In this post, we will examine, what has taken place at the local community level, dialogue principles for community (whole community not just the school community) involvement,  and possibilities for moving Towards Generative Community Dialogues.

Inspiring Education (Action) Community Level Involvement:

The most comprehensive local community involvement was the use of the Inspiring Education Community Conversation Kit in the early stages of Inspiring Education: A Dialogue with Albertans .  Also see Local Conversations May - June 09  for blog versions using the community conversation kit.  Building on this experience we participated in the Inspiring Action online dialogue as a group using a school computer lab.  The framework for the new school act also emphasizes community involvement see Whole Community Engagment in Education Act 2011 Proposed Framework October 7, 2010
 
Dialogue Principles for Community Dialogue Involvement:

Recently we have been looking at COMMUNITY ACTION DIALOGUES  website.  The principles of dialogue outlined on their site could form the basis for community dialogues which follow-up Inspiring Education/Action and other topics of interest at the community level.  For community dialogues to bring community action, there needs to be a way of having these dialogues become part of an ongoing public engagement strategy.  A dialogue on the principles and experiences from Inspiring Education/Action could be used to initiate development of this strategy.  The strategy needs to go beyond Inspiring Education/Action to public engagement with the whole community on topics that affect the community.  See DIALOGUE LINKS for more background.

Our experience with developing and following up the Tri-Smart proposal illustrates the process and the need for an integrated community approach to public engagement.  The Tri-Smart proposal was a proposal developed in 1999 to get 1/2 million in federal government funding to develop smart community technology in the tri-municipalities of Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland county.  The proposal was funded by the three municipalities, two school boards, two chambers of commerce and the local health authority.  Once we were selected as one of the finalists for Alberta, the whole community got involved, including the University of Alberta and others outside of the community, each contributing something to match the government funding.   When we did not get the government funding, the committee tried, in vain, to get support for a scaled down version of the proposal to share resources, which ultimately could have been less expensive than  each organization developing the technology and infrastructure on their own and could have benefited the community more.than the current systems developed independently by each organization.   A group of us followed up on one aspect of the proposal in conjunction with our MLA to develop a network of organizations to work together for the benefit of children in our community.  The schools did not get involved in this network and we failed to get public engagement. as a result the MLA continued to network with the organizations and FACTSnet  was born to continue seeking ways to Unite for Children.

Moving Toward Community Action Dialogue:

The principles and experiences mentioned above illustrate the potential and difficulties we face in getting sustained public engagement leading to public action.  The vision developed through Inspiring Education/Action needs this kind of engagement to have the maximum impact for generations to come.  The future of our children and our future is of much more value than 1/2 million dollars for a smart community but it does not have the urgency for organizational and public engagement that the Tri-Smart proposal had.  It seems that a coordinated approach to public engagement,  like that of Tri-Smart, is needed so that whole community is involved.  The strategy to achieve this needs to involve sustained public engagement.  The current uncoordinated systems of each organization (schools, school boards, municipalities etc,) asking for public engagement, with dialogue taking place in an adhoc manner facilitated by public engagement consultants could be replaced by ongoing generative dialogue and public engagement similar to what has happened with Inspiring Education/Action.  See Inspiring Educational and Heritage Dialogues for some suggestions on how we might proceed.

Dialogue on Worldviews (Alberta)

See links below and/or make comments to this post to participate in the dialogue.

1. Inspiring Educational and Heritage Dialogues 
2. Report on Japan/Alberta Summer 2010 Project
3. Developing a Christian World View in the Alberta Context

Inspiring Heritage Dialogue - Conversation May 11th 2010

Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Where: Father Jan School in St. Albert View Map
Who: Anyone interested in studying and passing on our Alberta heritage.

What: This conversation will:

1. Briefly introduce the concept of generative community dialogue (Discussing together to produce something new that goes beyond the individual contributions).
2. Introduce FACTSnet Summer 2010 programs and projects and begin generating plans to most effectively use summer student employees in schools (K-12) and the community.
3. Dialogue on other concerns of participants as time permits.
4. Arrange for future conversations, which could involve students in grades 7-12.
   

Inspiring Educational Dialogue - Conversation May 4th 2010

Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Where: Father Jan School in St. Albert View Map
Who: Anyone interested in Education
What: This conversation will:

1. Briefly introduce the concept of generative community dialogue (Discussing together to produce something new that goes beyond the individual contributions).
2. Introduce FACTSnet Summer 2010 programs and projects and begin generating plans to most effectively use summer student employees in schools (K-12) and the community.
3. Dialogue on other concerns of participants as time permits and/or 
4. Arrange for future conversations, which could involve students in grades 7-12.
   

Proposed Dialogues for Summer 2010

• Alberta Education and Heritage Dialogue 
• Inspiring Educational Dialogue - Conversation May 4th 2010 
• Inspiring Heritage Dialogue - Conversation May 11th 2010 
• St. Albert 150 Anniversary Projects 2009-2012
  
• Alberta Christmas Dialogue 
• Language, Culture and Heritage Networks Dialogue 2010
• Digital Heritage Computer Camps Dialogue
  
• Inspiring Education Dialogue and Network Development
• Student and Alumni Associations Dialogue.

For more information go to FACTSnet Summer 2010

To participate in any of the above dialogues email factsc@gmail.com or make comments to this blog.

Inspring Education Forum Highlights and Links

This post is from a participants perspective and notessee for official highlights

Notes from Dr. Mark Milliron's Presentation  

• Asia: will have more highly educated people in the next few years than the entire workforce of the US or 5 times the population of Canada. Much of our work could be outsourced.
  
• Automation: Anything that can be reduced to steps to complete can be automated.
• Abundance: Through the Internet the world knows about and seeks a share in North American Abundance.

Click here to view Mark's presentation.

UNESCO Summary

Educational & Heritage Dialogues and Programs Proposed for 2010

Building on our experience with the "Inspiring Education" dialogue and Summer Heritage Projects in 2008 and 2009, FACTS is proposing to facilitate local organizations throughout the province in conducting local dialogues on Education and Heritage in conjunction with summer heritage projects and programs as follows:

• November 2009 - May 2010: Initial conversations with provincial and local educational and community organizations and potential summer student employees.
  
• November 2009 - February 2010: Proposal development for spring and summer programs involving local organizations.  see Proposal conversations 2010
• March - April: Preparing for training of Post-Secondary summer student employees and local supervisors.
• May: Training of Post-Secondary employees and supervisors and be part of the Information Technology in Education and the Arts Network
  
• May - June: K-12 local conversations and programs. 
• First week of July: Training High School summer employees.
  
• July - August: Community programs and synthesis of conversations.

For links and more details see FACTSnet Summer 2010